


The Ghost Of You

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, M/M, Minor Zorii/Jess, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: After Exegol, Poe Dameron is reeling with mixed emotions about Ben Solo’s death. When an opportunity arises to bring him back, Poe is willing to take it.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2
Collections: Bad Day Collection, Darkpilot Songbook





	The Ghost Of You

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Idea initially inspired by the song “The Ghost of You” by My Chemical Romance as well as a World Between Worlds idea that was brewing in my head.

It was inside the Base, after the celebration, that Rey mentioned that Kylo — Ben — was dead.

There was a moment, just a moment, where Poe felt like a vibroblade had pierced through his chest as he sat down, just inside the Base. 

Rey turned to look at him. “Poe?” she said. “Are you...okay?” It struck Poe that it was the first time that Rey had actually asked him that.

”I’m...fine.” He wasn’t. If it had been just a man that had tortured him, wrenched his secrets from his mind like it was nothing, it would be one thing. It would be something that he could deal with. But Ben...

Ben had been his friend. His best friend. If not more. Poe didn’t think of him as just a monster; he thought of everything — the way his smile accentuated his cheeks, his eyes. The way that Poe would have done anything to get that out of him. The way Ben had loved and believed Poe so deeply after Poe had come back from Kijimi. 

“I...” Rey swallowed. “I saw you before. In his mind. When I turned the tables on him.”

Turned the tables. Poe wished that he could have done the same thing. Kylo had told him that it wasn’t Poe’s fault, that Kylo regretted it (the closest that Kylo Ren could get to an apology), but still...

Rey continued. “You were his friend. The man from his childhood. He loved you...”

She trailed off, almost as if realizing what she’d done. 

“Did something happen between you on Exegol?” Poe said. 

Rey nodded. “I kissed him. I wasn’t thinking; I was just so happy he’d redeemed himself. That he’d saved me...”

”I felt it,” Finn said. Poe didn’t miss the undercurrent of hurt in Finn’s voice, the pain there. Being seen as unimportant in comparison. “Rey...can we talk?”

Even as they left, Poe swore that the tension stretched between them like a too-thin thread. 

It was an ugly feeling, that wondering if Ben had thought nothing of Poe in the end. Absolutely nothing at all. If, in the end, he just didn’t care about Poe, even after he’d turned back to the Light. 

Did he...?

Poe took a deep breath. It was a struggle, he thought, to fight the tears. 

***

”You all right there, Sky Trash?”

Zorii’s voice jarred Poe out of his looking at his feet, at bare minimum. Poe looked up at her, at her still-masked face. He had teased her about a kiss on Kijimi, a reference to their...honestly bizarre past relationship. Poe still didn’t know how to classify it. 

“There was a boy,” Poe said. “A boy I knew.”

Zorii sighed. “You found another boy besides that Solo kid?”

”It is Ben.” Ben had contacted him via comm on occasion, just to talk. Talk with him, like Poe wasn’t, in Poe’s own opinion, a shit excuse for a sentient being.   
  
“Did you ever get with him?” Zorii said. 

“He...” And Poe told Zorii everything. Ben’s fall. Kylo being forced to torture him. The moment when they were stranded together months before Exegol, and Poe had felt everything come back — before Kylo pushed him away again. 

Everything. 

“Wow, Sky Trash,” Zorii said, “Just...wow.” A beat. “So basically, your boyfriend was forced to torture you, he’d fallen to the Dark Side previously...damn. And you’re saying he said Luke of all people tried to kill him? He’s still a piece of garbage, but still...”

”He wasn’t always.”

”I guess." Zorii sighed. “Look, if you’re looking for me to be your rebound, it’s not gonna work. I like you, Sky Trash. Even if you massively kriffed things up for the Spice Runners and put my mother in jail.”

”Yeah, I know. I’m sorry about that.”

Zorii snorted. “It’s been twelve years. But yeah...honestly, Sky Trash, I don’t think it’s gonna work. I met a girl.”

”Who’s the lucky girl?” Poe said. Inside, he hurt; he hoped Zorii would be happier than anything. But he was alone. His own love had died, died selflessly but still died. 

“Jess Pava.”

Poe smiled. “Well, you take care of her. It’s kind of my fault she’s not happy.” _After Paige died_. 

“Spice Runner, I’ll treat her like a queen.”

Poe did smile, more broadly, at that.

***

He headed off to bed. Of course he did. Zorii was happy, at least. Jannah had the possibility of being happy, finding out where she came from. Poe supposed in the end that his own happiness didn’t matter, as long as his friends were happy. As long as others were happy. 

He closed his eyes. He could swear that the cool breeze was passing through, and a whisper that sounded like Ben’s voice. 

“ _You could be happy, Poe_.”


End file.
